Chapter : 21
He had many things he wanted to say, but for now, Elrussier shook the long strip of burning paper to extinguish the flame. Black crumbs fell with dull taps. After setting the charred scrap down on the counter, he held out his hand to her.
Wiz placed her hand on his faster than ever before.
Then she flinched and tried to pull it back, seemingly realizing belatedly what she had just done. Elrussier lightly grasped her hand so she couldn’t withdraw it. Wiz went still.
He lowered his gaze and examined her hand. The back of it, her nails—nothing seemed wrong. He turned her hand over. At that moment, Wiz clenched her fist, then roughly yanked her hand away as if shaking him off. Despite that abrupt rejection, she wore an awkward smile.
Elrussier calmly lowered his hand and asked,
“Are there any burns?”
“No.”
“You mustn’t play with fire. More than anything, this place is full of paper that ignites easily. Once a fire starts here, there’s a high chance it will spread.”
He spoke slowly, one point at a time. His voice was calm, but inwardly he was rather desperate.
He’d already been uneasy about leaving a bookstore packed with rare volumes locked with just a single key—and now he had to worry about getting a report saying ‘There was a fire at the bookstore last night.’
Though something had already burned, it seemed. Elrussier’s eyes flicked briefly to the floor and then lifted again.
Wiz, who had been listening with wide eyes, nodded. Then, more seriously than before, she said,
“I apologize for being rude to someone I just met.”
“……”
Elrussier didn’t reply and simply smiled. It was too bothersome to explain. Even so, Wiz steadfastly continued.
“But I don’t sell books.”
“Yes, I know. Do you remember the ring you identified earlier as the suspect artifact in the second death case?”
“Oh… oh… y-you little fox! So you’re that knight!”
“……”
If she had openly cursed him, or teased him outright, it would have been easier. But he couldn’t even find the chance to be offended. The fact that she remembered him at all felt miraculous.
How had things ended up like this?
Elrussier suddenly reflected on his former self and questioned it. How had things turned out this way? He certainly wasn’t someone this generous by nature. Though he generally treated people with a gentle smile, his inner self had never been kind. Truly, never.
And yet—somehow.
With an indescribably subtle feeling, he let out a light sigh.
“Yes. I’m the commander of the Silver Fox Order.”
“Right, right. The carving. But what kind of carving was it again…?”
Losing memories without context was truly unfortunate.
“You didn’t tell me the artifact maker’s real name. You only gave their alias—‘Gold Bullion Baldy.’ You said it was an artifact where melted gold flowed out from the ring’s gemstone.”
“Oh. I see. That one. Gold Bullion Baldy.”
Her memory restored in an instant, she disappeared between the bookshelves.
Elrussier followed her at a slow pace. Wiz didn’t look around at all. She went straight to the innermost shelf along the left wall and crouched down in front of it. The frayed hem of her skirt lifted slightly over the toe of her shoe. His eyes caught the sight by chance.
Elrussier raised one corner of his mouth.
She must have wandered around tirelessly for her clothes to end up like that.
But the thought wasn’t ‘She worked so hard,’ rather ‘She worked so hard breaking people’s minds.’
His assessment was thorough and cold.
Wiz, gripping the spine of a book and straining silently, muttered,
“This one… it won’t come out. Just a moment.”
What was she about to do?
Seeing her raise both hands and rotate her wrists made him uneasy. After a brief warm-up, she reached out again—but this time pushed her hand into the narrow gap between the upright book and the shelf above. The space was so tight it seemed impossible for a hand to fit, yet she successfully slid her wrist in.
Then she said,
“This is bad. My hand won’t come out.”
“……”
From now on, he should never ignore ominous premonitions when it came to Wiz.
He bent at the waist.
He lightly tilted the book beside the one she’d tried to pull out. It didn’t budge at all. It was tightly wedged.
He pulled his hand back. During that moment, Wiz looked up at him and spoke.
“Uh, by the way… who were you again…?”
“Even now, let’s not make this a problem of names and faces.”
He replied evenly and knelt down fully on his left knee beside her.
This time, he carefully grasped the book he’d touched earlier and slowly tilted it forward. Tearing even the spine would be disastrous. If these weren’t such valuable old books, he could have been much more forceful.
After taking his time, the book finally came free. Space opened up beside it.
Now it was time to separate Wiz’s trapped hand from the book beneath it. He swallowed a sigh and rattled the book slightly. With space on the side, all it needed was a tilt—yet it was stubbornly wedged.
There was no helping it.
“Excuse me.”
He took her wrist with his left hand. With his right, he grabbed the book beneath and twisted it. Wiz, who had been staring blankly, spoke at that exact moment.
“No, but… you don’t really have to go this far. You can just pull it out.”
“With force?”
“Yes. Just yank it out.”
“Even if the book tears?”
“Even then.”
“……”
That’s exactly why I’m doing this. He twisted the book one last time. The tilted book collapsed, leaning against the one beside it. Elrussier withdrew both hands.
Finally free, Wiz collapsed backward.
“Wow…”
“Are you alright?”
“Yes. Yes. I’m fine. Thank you.”
She shook her head as she spoke, looking thoroughly dazed. Elrussier stood up, holding the book he had set down earlier.
He didn’t need it right away, but putting it back was risky. Since he’d already picked it up, he checked the title.
Onnevaler.
It was written in an outdated orthography, making it slightly difficult to decipher.
A Study on… the Devil’s… Land.
Probably a collection of academic papers.
The Devil’s land?
Just as he was about to sink into thought, Wiz held up another book toward him and said,
“Anyway, this is it. Take it and read it over there. I’ll find the other books and bring them to you.”
Elrussier shifted his gaze to her and exchanged the book he was holding with the one she offered. Still seated on the floor, she dropped her raised knees to clear space, slid the book back onto the shelf, and stood up before he could offer his hand.
Wiz didn’t speak to him again. Watching her back as she moved to the next shelf, Elrussier turned toward the counter.
Meanwhile, the Tower Master stared gravely at the seventeen-page letter that had arrived from Wiz.
If he didn’t decode it, it would hurt his pride. But if he did—and it turned out to be useless nonsense like ‘I felt like eating kiwi today’—his blood pressure would skyrocket.
Normally, he would have ground his teeth and started decoding immediately, but today he hesitated for one simple reason.
It was too long.
“……”
The old man carefully rested his forehead against his clasped hands. Deep shadows fell across his face.
He had cheerfully sent the bait off, leaving the consequences to his future self—but now that he was that future self, he regretted the past.
Why did you do something like that, past me?
He knew retaliation would come. But there were limits. Limits. Just imagining analyzing every character of seventeen pages to create a decryption table made his head spin. Chocolate milk? Strawberry cookies? Jelly? Candy? Kiwi? Apples? What on earth had she eaten this time?
And then, with cruel timing, a sense of unease crossed his mind.
…Surely it’s not about selling the Tower again, right?
Surely not…
“……”
Tears quietly streamed from the Tower Master’s eyes.
Her track record was too spectacular. He had no choice but to decode it…
“That woman… her commitment to the concept is really…”
He muttered through sobs. From Wiz’s perspective, she might have nailed her concept perfectly. Looking at her now, no one would believe she was the same person as before. The problem was that everyone around her was suffering.
He missed the Wiz from back when she belonged to the Central Tower but kept herself hidden from scholars.
That Wiz wouldn’t have carried out such meticulously pointless, vengeance-filled acts. And he wouldn’t have had to suffer like this…!
Still, the old man agonized one last time. What could it be about? Was there any way to guess before decoding it? Any miracle that would let him avoid it?
At the very least, it didn’t seem like a reply to the note he’d sent a few days ago.
She would know decoding took time. If it were a reply, there was no reason to make it this long.
The note in question—secretly entrusted to the Tower Master by someone who had stepped down and was now wandering the country—had been delivered to Wiz folded only once. It had been that urgent.
Knowing its contents, the Tower Master let out a deep sigh and wiped away his tears with his index finger.
What a thorough act of avoidance.
After the death of the former Duke of Münze Roheol, Archduke Raphael Ehbe had rescinded his knighthood and gone into wandering, yet he had relentlessly tracked down the former duke’s retainers. He had asked about the duke.
The archduke was searching in earnest.
He refused to believe the dead were truly dead and kept searching.
What kind of bond the former duke and the archduke had shared was unknown—but it was undoubtedly deep. And yet Wiz, hearing this news again and again, remained unmoved. That coldness was cruel.
It would be nice if she wavered just a little.
Just a little!
The concept! Just! Waver a bit!
The Tower Master trembled, clutching the seventeen pages.
After three weeks of decoding, the entire letter boiled down to one sentence:
“I sent this because I wanted to try activating Kkibugi. Haha.”
The laugh at the end was the real masterpiece. She had definitely written it with a straight face. Just like she was now. Ha. Ha.
After staring at the sentence for a long while, the Tower Master burned the letter. His eyes were empty.
On the third day as well, Wiz diligently read through the materials the Silver Fox Order had made public for her.
Once she focused, her dislike of interruptions became unmistakable.
Mini was quite startled by how Wiz could smile brightly while clearly radiating irritation. It was the first time she’d ever seen Wiz as a researcher deeply absorbed in her work.
Because Wiz’s usual demeanor was already so extreme, the contrast was all the more striking.
Impressed, Mini refrained from speaking to her any further.
Then, about ten minutes earlier, Daniel stopped by to check on the situation. He stood with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall, staring blankly. Even after he arrived, Wiz didn’t look up from the documents even once. Eventually, he spoke.
“…So there really are people who look better when they keep their mouths shut. Ah, what a tragedy.”
“I don’t know about tragic, but it’s not that rare. You’re in that category too, when you keep your mouth shut.”
“……”
Mini’s merciless, blade-sharp retort stabbed Daniel straight in the chest. He raised a hand to clutch it.
That’s just cruel. Seriously.
But whether her colleague was wounded or not, Mini didn’t care. She was quite busy herself.
After all, she couldn’t afford to slack off while Wiz was working.
(To be continued in the next chapter)
